15/04/2005 Looking for
wolves in Switzerland is a bit like looking
for a needle in a haystack. Perhaps even harder
as there are only a handful of them roaming
throughout the country’s vast mountain ranges
and alpine meadows made famous by the 19th
century children’s classic, and later the
popular television series, Heidi. But, for
many living in the Swiss Alps, this is a handful
too many.
“If I ever came across a wolf, I would shoot
it,” a Swiss hunter from the Italian-speaking
canton of Ticino said point-blank. “They are
cold killing machines that threaten farmers
and their livestock.”
It is attitudes like this which first led
to the wolf’s extinction in Switzerland some
100 years ago. Despite continued persecution
(and vilification through numerous folk tales,
such as Peter and the Wolf, Little Red Riding
Hood, the Three Little Pigs and others), the
European wolf (Canis lupus) is showing signs
of a come back as several have sneaked across
the border in recent years from Italy via
France in search of new territory and food.
The presence of a single male wolf was first
spotted in the Swiss canton of Valais in 1995
(and reportedly killed in 1996). Since then
there have been wolf traces and other sightings
in the south-eastern cantons of Graubünden
and Ticino. No breeding has so far been recorded,
but the first female sighting came in July
2002 along the Swiss-Italian border near Valais.
“In the beginning there were rumours being
spread that the wolves were being brought
in by environmental groups,” said Doris Calegari,
a large carnivore specialist with WWF’s European
Alpine Programme. “No one actually believed
that they came on their own naturally.”
A wolf’s paradise
Wildlife experts believe that there are up
to six wolves in Switzerland, originating
from packs in the Abruzzo region of central
Italy some 600km away. Because of increased
wolf protection in Italy in the 1970s — resulting
in increased wolf populations (today, there
are about 600 wolves in Italy) — some have
been forced to look for greener pastures.
And, nothing is greener than the alpine slopes
of Switzerland.
“We welcome this natural recovery in Switzerland,”
said Calegari. “Wolves are one of the alpine
region’s top three predators, along with the
brown bear and lynx. The fact that they have
returned is an indicator that the habitat
is much healthier than it was in the past.”
There were once hundreds of wolves living
throughout Switzerland, but years of population
growth, industrialization, and forest conversion
for agriculture and logging saw their habitat
encroached upon. The loss of mountain forests,
coupled with uncontrolled hunting, also resulted
in the reduction of the deer population, the
wolves’ main prey. With little game left in
the Alps, large carnivores turned to domesticated
animals, like sheep and goat, for their meals,
often bringing them into conflict with farmers
who saw them as a threat to their livestock.
Seen as dangerous competitors, the wolf and
the lynx were exterminated in the Alps.
Today, however, mountain forests have recovered,
and with it an abundance of herbivores, thanks
to more protected areas and better land management.
Switzerland is now a true wolf ‘paradise’
with large populations of roe and red deer,
marmots and chamois (horned antelope). They
have never lost their taste, though, for easily
accessible livestock, which often graze without
protection in the high alpine meadows.
“Wolves are opportunists,” said Joanna Schoenenberger,
WWF-Switzerland’s European Alpine Programme
Officer working on wolf issues in Ticino.
“Yes, they will go after sheep, but there
is now enough of a deer population to keep
them happy.”
Debunking the myth that wolves hunt for ‘fun’
and not only for food, a recent camera trap
showed a wolf in Ticino returning to a deer
it killed the night before.
“Mass killing by wolves is extremely rare,”
added Calegari. “Even when going after livestock,
the loss of just a few animals is more common.
Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf?
Not everyone has welcomed the predator’s
reappearance. Since crossing into the Swiss
Alps from Italy, wolves have been blamed for
hundreds of attacks on sheep and goats. In
spite of compensation for losses by the government,
resistance against the wolf returning to Switzerland
is strong, especially among sheep farmers
and hunters.
According to the Swiss-based KORA Carnivore
Research Centre, 44 sheep were reportedly
killed in Switzerland in 2004 by a large canine
out of some 250,000 grazing sheep. The numbers
are significantly lower than in 2000 when
105 sheep were killed. From 1998 to 2003,
456 sheep and goats have been compensated
as wolf kills.
However, not all livestock attacks are the
work of wolves, but by their next of kin.
The European wolf is a bit smaller and leaner
than its North American counterpart, and can
easily be confused with a large dog. In Ticino
alone there are about 80 goats and 200 sheep
killed by dogs each year. Despite the figures,
farmers and hunters are still quick to blame
wolves for their losses.
“Wolves present a problem, especially as
there are lots of sheep which graze without
shepherds,” said Marco Mondada, President
of the Ticino Hunters Federation. “Farmers’
interests should not be put at unnecessary
risk by animals which can be so destructive.
They must be managed.”
Although the wolf is legally protected under
Swiss law, as well as under the 1979 Bern
Convention on the Conservation of European
Wildlife and Natural Habitats, farmers and
hunters have in a number of instances won
the support of local government to go after
the few existing wolves.
Regulations were introduced in 2001 permitting
the shooting of any wolf believed to have
killed at least 50 sheep over a four-month
period, or 25 in a single month. The minimum
has now been lowered to 35 sheep over a four-month
time frame, and may continue to be lowered
if wolf attacks continue. But the law is not
totally on the side of wolf hunting. WWF recently
won the right from the Swiss Federal Supreme
Court to oppose decisions made by cantonal
authorities in Valais to shoot a female wolf.
WWF is now appealing the Valais cantonal court
to overturn the decision.
Wolf attacks may occur at any time during
the year, but most tend to take place in July
and August when sheep are left unattended
for long periods of time high up on the alpine
pastures. Some pastures can be located at
more than 2,500m and spread out over several
square kilometers. Last summer, Giacomo Cominelli,
a shepherd of 40 years, saw his large flock
of sheep attacked five times. Over ten sheep,
including lambs, were killed, and many more
injured.
“It’s a terrible thing to lose one’s sheep,
not just from a financial point of view, but
emotional as well,” Cominelli said. “If I
wasn’t a shepherd I probably would be for
the wolf, but the sheep are my livelihood
and I need to protect them the best I can.
Killing a wolf would solve a lot of problems,
but I think I would have a dilemma killing
it myself.”
Send in the dogs
Fortunately, Cominelli has not been quick
to take up arms like some of his colleagues,
and has been open to several alternatives
supported by WWF and local government, including
the use of specially-trained livestock guard
dogs.
“The use of guard dogs is something shepherds
haven’t used in generations in Switzerland,”
said Alberto Stern, a veterinarian outside
of Bellinzona who raises Great Pyreneans,
a large dog breed suitable for livestock protection.
Maremmano-Abruzzeses are also being used.
“These guard dogs are the best possibility
of reducing wolf attacks. They work because
they become attached to the sheep starting
at birth and instinctively defend their herd.”
Although not 100 per cent foolproof, there
is evidence that they have reduced livestock
loss in some areas, not just against wolves,
but also against fox and golden eagles, who
also prey on small lambs. According to Stern,
there are about 70-80 dogs in Switzerland
being used by shepherds for this purpose.
Trying to diffuse the growing human-wildlife
conflict, WWF’s European Alpine Programme
initiated a livestock guard dog project to
help those being affected by the wolf attacks.
“When we saw the problems farmers were having
with their sheep, we decided to take measures
to help protect them,” Schoenenberger said.
“We encouraged farmers open to the idea to
buy and train dogs against potential wolf
attacks. We are now offering advice on how
to choose the right animals for protection.”
For those not comfortable with dogs, donkeys
have also been trained as they are larger
than wolves and can be equally aggressive
when confronted by a threat. WWF has also
helped farmers put up fences as another defense
system against predators, and is taking groups
— school kids and adults alike — out to ‘wolf
country’ to meet with farmers to improve understanding
between rural and city communities.
Last year, WWF volunteers helped Ottavio
Cotti-Cottini construct an electric fence
to guard his herd of alpine goats. Earlier
that year, and the year before, Cottini lost
nine of his goats in separate wolf attacks.
“I think more and more farmers are realizing
that there are other ways to protect their
livestock without having to shoot wolves,”
Schoenenberger added. “This is very encouraging.”
Wolf recovery in Switzerland is at a very
early stage and its future by no means secure.
But the reality of the situation is that more
wolves are expected to cross the border in
the years to come. Its permanent residency
status will depend, however, on how well all
sides involved in the issue can come to a
common understanding about the wolf’s place
in the Alps.
“If you think about it, the whole area of
the Alps is former wolf territory. It is a
fact that they lived here long before we did,”
Schoenenberger said. “Their return would be
an important contribution to enriching Switzerland's
biodiversity.”
*Mark Schulman is Managing Editor at WWF
International
END NOTES:
• Launched in 1999 by WWF-Austria, WWF-France,
WWF-Germany, WWF-Italy and WWF-Switzerland,
the WWF European Alpine Programme works to
achieve the conservation of biodiversity in
the Alps through cross-boundary collaboration,
as well as with other NGOs and interested
partners.
• Compared to the North American wolf, which
can weigh up to 80kg, wolves found in western
Europe tend to be smaller and leaner and weigh
on average 28–38kg. A young, male wolf can
travel up to 40km in one night.
• The following are a list of current wolf
populations in Europe according to IUCN-World
Conservation Union: Norway (about 15); Czech
Republic (up to 20); France (about 50); Hungary
(less than 50); Sweden (up to 100); Portugal
(200-300); Greece (less than 500); Italy (about
600); Poland (600); Bulgaria (up to 1,000);
Spain (2,000); Romania (2,500); and Russia
(20,000).
• The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is the third
largest predator in Europe after the brown
bear and the wolf, and the largest of the
four lynx species. The lynx was almost entirely
wiped out throughout the continent as a consequence
of human activities. Populations once numbered
as low as 700, but today 7,000–8,000 individuals
survive. As a result of a successful reintroduction
programme in the 1970s, the species is once
again present in alpine countries. In Switzerland,
there are about 100.
